The document summarizes the Christian formation programs for children, youth, and families at Saint Michael and All Angels. It discusses hiring a new assistant youth minister and anchor teachers for consistent Sunday school programming. It also reviews the theories of Jean Piaget on cognitive development stages and John Westerhoff on faith development stages that guided reforms to better align programming with youth needs. Programs were restructured across grades 4-12 based on these developmental theories after a multi-year process involving parents and staff.

1. CHILDREN, FAMILY, AND YOUTH AT
SAINT MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS

2. OUR NEW ASSISTANT YOUTH MINISTER
 We are pleased to announce that Chase
Monson will be our new Assistant Youth
Minister. He will begin this summer with the
Bolivia Trip
 He has spent 4 years in
Ministry in San Angelo, TX
 Welcome to Chase!

3. WHERE WE ARE
 Over the last three years, we, the Christian
Formation Team, has been working in
multiple areas at the same time to look at
how we raise children and youth in the
knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.
 We started with one incredibly basic goal –
consistent programming and teaching

4. WHERE WE WERE
 Three years ago . . . .
 We had no master calendar for events in the
parish integrated with the Christian
Formation process.
 The result- no one knew when the church
had Sunday School.
 Special Events dominated the schedule. It
was not uncommon to have two Sundays
with class, one off, one with class, etc.

5. WHERE WE WERE
 The first year we gathered, crafted a master
calendar, and made formation a priority over
a parade of guest speakers and special
events.
 We strove to have a consistent Sunday
School morning offering with only a few days
off for big events like Thanksgiving, Feast of
Saint Michael, and Easter.

6. WHERE WE WERE
 Year Two – aka last year, with one year of
planning under our belt, we could begin to
schedule and plan the special events that
help teach and reinforce Christian practice
and continue to prioritize Sunday School.
 Volunteer Teachers were notoriously difficult
to recruit for a full year. Continuity was
sacrificed.

7. ANCHOR TEACHERS
 In consulting with other programs in the Park
Cities, we discovered a paid teacher
approach
 We proposed an “Anchor Teacher” pilot
program for Fall of 2016. The plan was to
hire 4 folks that would serve as the main
teachers for classes. This would allow
parents to volunteer for different periods
without feeling like they had to commit to the
whole year or provide all the programming.

8. MINISTRY ARCHITECTS
 Over 18 months, we engaged Ministry
Architects to help us begin a process of
rebuilding and growing our Youth Ministry
Programming.
 The results were helpful. The focus was on
long range goals with intermediate steps for
each year to reach those goals.
 Goals include, retain 25-30 youth from
Confirmation, increase parent participation,
expand bible study/small group offerings.

9. MINISTRY ARCHITECTS
 Some of the goals affirmed what we are
doing- like our annual outreach mission trips.
 Other goals challenge us to do more- like
separate our Sunday School program into
different levels.
 This process helped us hire Lauren
Wainwright and focus our efforts on hiring
Chase Monson.

10. JEAN PIAGET
 Two folks have helped guide Christian
Formation for all groups as well as much
educational theory that teachers use.
 The first is Jean Piaget and his theory of
Cognitive Development Theory.
 He believed that intelligence was not as
important as the process of learning. The
dedicated learner follows a systematic
process.

11. JEAN PIAGET
 He understood that people develop the same
in four basic groups:
 1. Sensorimotor Stage (birth to age 2)
 2. Pre-operational Stage (from age 2-7)
 3. Concrete Operational Stage (from age 7-
11)
 4. Formal Operational Stage (age 11+ -
adolescence and adulthood).

12. JEAN PIAGET
 Pre-operative Stage – Age 2-7
 During this stage, young children are able to
think about things symbolically. This is the
ability to make one thing - a word or an
object - stand for something other than itself.
 Thinking is still egocentric, and the infant has
difficulty taking the viewpoint of others.

13. JEAN PIAGET
 Concrete Operational Stage - from age 7-11
 It marks the beginning of logical or operational
thought.
 This means the child can work things out
internally in their head (rather than physically try
things out in the real world).
 Children can conserve number (age 6), mass
(age 7), and weight (age 9). Conservation is the
understanding that something stays the same in
quantity even though its appearance changes

14. JEAN PIAGET
 Formal Operational Stage - age 11+ -
adulthood.
 The formal operational stage begins around
age eleven and lasts into adulthood. During
this time, people develop the ability to think
about abstract concepts, and logically test
hypotheses.

15. WESTERHOFF
 Building on Piaget, the Rev. Dr. John
Westerhoff, an Episcopal priest, created a
similar model called Stages of Faith.
 1) Experiential Faith - Infant Faith, up to Age
6
 2) Affiliative Faith – Ages 7-11
 3) Searching - Adolescent Stage – Ages 12-
18+
 4) Owned Faith - Adult Stage

16. WESTERHOFF
 Affiliative Faith – Ages 7-11
 child goes through the motions of the faith
without fully understanding, but does them
because it makes them feel like they belong
 child develops a sense of "we" and wants to
be a part of the religious expression of their
faith through the symbols and rituals of their
religions

17. WESTERHOFF
 Searching - Adolescent Stage – Ages 12-18+
 Individual begins to question and doubt some aspect
of their faith or religion
 Marks the beginning/transition from believing in the
faith of others to making faith their own/personal
experimentation may be part of searching faith:
exploring other religious communities, resisitng
common practices of roots of your faith
 Assess your personal life experience against faith
precepts taught to him/her through experienced and
affiliative faith development

18. WESTERHOFF
 Owned Faith - Adult Stage
 Person has developed a firm set of convictions,
values, and actions that direct and motivate his/her
life
 Faith becomes a part of the person and impacts the
decisions, choices, and actions of the individual
person is sure about his/her faith
 Entrance into this stage is called conversion because
it marks a new way of thinking, living, and acting. a
person with newly owned faith knows that something
has occurred that has made a life-changing
difference

19. PROCESS
 With Piaget and Westerhoff ringing in our
heads, we began to look at our programs.
 For instance, Westerhoff worked to create
the Godly Play program- a similar Montessori
based Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
program.
 He had it run through 6th grade because of
developmental theory and Faith
Development
 We would like to explore Level III Catechesis

20. CURRENT OFFERINGS
 Catechesis Level I – 2 classes, ages 4-6
 Catechesis Level II – 2 classes, ages 6-9
 Spark Curriculum – 3 classes, ages 5-9
 The Edge – 1 class, 4&5th grade
 Confirmation – 1 class, 6th grade
 Youth Ministry – 1 class, 7-12th grade

21. RESULTS
 Developmentally, Confirmation is at the
youngest possible age. This means most do
not fully comprehend the program.
 We noticed that The Edge program was not
fully age appropriate.
 We noticed that Youth Ministry had too many
grades in one space.
 We also noted that biblical education ended
at age 9 and was replaced by reflective
models

22. PROCESS
 We gathered a team of concerned parents
and Vestry members to review our programs.
 We also began working on alternatives for
Grades 4-12.
 After a two year process of using Cognitive
Developmental Theory, Faith Formation
Theory, and comparable church studies, we
have created a new process for our youth.

23. RESULTS
2017-2018 Academic Year
4th & 5th - Bible 101
6th– Confirmation
7th & 8th – Echo the Story/Collaborate Curriculum
9-12th – Teen Text/Lectionary Based Curriculum
2018-2019 Academic Year/2019-2020 Academic Year
4th - Bible 101
5th - Bible 102
6th, 7th & 8th – Echo the Story/Collaborate
Curriculum
9-12th – Teen Text/Lectionary Based Curriculum
Start 8th Grade Confirmation in Fall 2020

24. RESULTS
 We have a dedicated group of parents with youth in
the Confirmation age group (current 4th & 5th
graders) who are committed to reworking and
improving our program
 Tish Visinsky, Phoebe Moore, Scott Wilson, Warren
Houser, Katy Abel are all connected to this process
and plan to prepare and teach.
 Lauren Wainwright and our new Assistant Youth
Minister, Chase, will also lead the transitions
 We will have 3 meetings in the fall with parents and
families of 4th and 5th graders to discuss Confirmation

25. RESULTS
 The decision to move over half of our
classes is NOT taken lightly or quickly. This
has been two years in development.
 It is in complete alignment with how our
youth learn and develop.
 It is also in line with churches of our size in
our denomination and nationally.
 Finally, we do this because we all fully
believe it is the BEST way to raise our
children to be faithful, adult Christians.

26. OTHER PROCESSES
 One of the specific jobs of the new Organist
and Choirmaster will be to develop a Youth
Choir. This will be a mid-week practice and
for elementary students.
 One of the specific jobs of the new
Contemporary Music Director will be to work
with our Youth to develop a musical offering.

27. GROUPS WHO HAVE MET TO DISCUSS
 Youth Task Force - Pressley Peters,
Gwendolyn Chestnut, Dee Dockery, Ann Hardaway,
Heather Marburger, Wendy Harris, Mike Tanner,
Claire Hagenbuch, Hays Haney, Lauren Wainwright,
and Elizabeth Selzer (vestry rep)
 Confirmation Task Force - Tish Visinsky,
Phoebe Moore, Scott Wilson, Warren
Houser, Katy Abel, Lauren Wainwright